Engert Ousts Drago at World Pool Masters

Engert Ousts Drago at World Pool MastersThe World Pool Masters event by Matchroom Sport began on September 3. Held in the Netherlands at Hotel Zuiderduin, the Masters brought 16 of the finest international stars of the game together in a single-elimination format to vie for the top prize of $20,000.In the first match, defending champion Tony Drago of Malta, known for his swift manner of play, met with recent victor of the $50,000 winner-take-all International Challenge of Champions, Germany’s Thomas Engert. The race to 8 was a close one, with Drago taking a 4-2 and then a 6-4 lead; however, Engert scored a 5-9 combo that allowed him to break and run to tie the match on the hill. The last rack was all Engert, as he cleared the table for a 8-6 victory.
Hometown hero Alex Lely of The Hague sent recent World Pool Championship runner-up Pei-Wei Chang, who hails from Taiwan. Obviously favored by the crowd, Lely took a 3-0 lead from the gate. A couple of errors on both players’ parts brought the score to 5-4 Lely. Chang evened things out at 5-all and then took the next two racks to reach the hill 7-5, looking poised for victory. But a failed safety attempt opened the door for Lely again, and he won the next three games in a row for an 8-7 win.“Machine Gun” Luc Salvas secured his spot in the quarterfinals with his success over the United States’ 2003 Player of the Year Johnny Archer, who was responsible for sending the Canadian home from the World Pool Championships last July. With misses on behalf of both, Salvas swept the early part of the match by gaining a cushy 6-1 lead over “The Scorpion.” When Salvas started looking shaky, Archer was right there to capitalize, coming back to tie the match at 6. Having to push out, Archer then exchanged safeties with Salvas until the speedy room owner triumphed with a run-out and an 8-6 victory.Last year’s world champion, Thorsten Hohmann of Germany, edged out "Marvelous" Marlon Manalo of the Philippines on his way to the quarterfinals. Confining his opponent to his seat, “The Hitman” ran the final five racks after Manalo came up dry on his break in the fifth rack.Round Two’s matches will see Visit InsidePOOL for the latest news in the sport of billiards and pool.

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